The Department of Agriculture has not set a target for Irish beef exports to China, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal in China this week, he said in the short-term the ambition is to get back to “where we were in as short a timeframe as possible”.

“In 2020, it had reached a level of €40m a year. But we haven’t put targets on it other than to support our sector and seek to develop the market here,” he said.

He said he had a positive meeting with the general administration on customs in China in Beijing this week to expand Ireland’s access for meat. “We have further technical follow-ups with them in relation to what the potential might be,” he said, with the Minister confirming that Ireland will be looking at the potential for offal exports to the market.

On access for sheepmeat, he said that a protocol was signed in 2021 and that there are “outstanding matters” that the Department is engaging on.

“It’s a market we would like to have access for; we think it would be a real benefit,” he said.

Bord Bia launched a series of meat promotional campaigns in China this week, which are aimed at promoting products from Europe as a whole, while also building awareness of Ireland as a source of high-quality, safe and sustainably produced beef, lamb, pork and poultry.

Bord Bia’s senior manager for EU promotions Declan Fennell said that “given the challenges in recent years with restricted access to China during the pandemic, a large focus of the campaigns will be building new relationships between Irish exporters and local importers and distributors in China”.